Grandma in parked car killed in hit-and-run, PA cops say. Arrest made years later

While sitting in a parked car, Julia Abraham was struck by an 18-year-old driver fleeing from police, Pennsylvania authorities say.

The 78-year-old grandmother, who loved ones told WTXF was just “minding her business,” died shortly after the crash, the station reported. Authorities said the driver, meanwhile, fled the scene.

Now, more than two years after the December 2022 collision, the 21-year-old accused driver has been arrested, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Jovan Lowe, who the Philadelphia Police Department said was 18 at the time of the incident, faces charges of homicide by vehicle, authorities say.

“Our persistence in pursuing those who commit such senseless crimes is never diminished by time, and hope Jovan Lowe’s arrest will bring some closure to Julia Abraham’s family,” Eric Gartner, United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said in a statement.

Police said Lowe was driving a stolen vehicle and was fleeing from officers when he struck Abraham’s vehicle.

Zakeysha Hall, Abraham’s granddaughter, called the events that led to her grandmother’s death “ridiculous,” WTXF reported.

“We have to bury my grandmom because somebody wanted to do crazy things,” Hall told the station. “She’s all we had, we’re suffering, we need her.”

Abraham was a grandmother to one and a great-grandmother to two, according to a GoFundMe.

She was described by her daughter, Sylvia Abraham, as a “beautiful woman” who “cares about everybody,” according to KYW-TV.

The U.S. Marshals said April 15 that Lowe was taken into custody at a home in Philadelphia. He “attempted to jump out a second-story window but was quickly forced back into the home.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 11:11 AM with the headline "Grandma in parked car killed in hit-and-run, PA cops say. Arrest made years later."